Brown Eyed Girl
by The Wordless Epoch
Summary: First chapter updated and rewritten. Bradin is forced to help a girl he was once involved with, from before he came to California. But will he realize that he still has feelings for her in the process? BradinOriginal Character. Full summary inside.


:::Chapter 1:::

Nikki was thoroughly disgusted. Yet again, her idiot of an older brother had neglected his duty of taking out the trash, thus she now had to save his hide and take it out herself.

It was, needless to say, the most disgusting experience of her life.

"Ugh! Bradin!" she yelled to no one in particular. She was quite surprised to see both Aunt Ava and the so-called idiotic brother with whom Nikki was so frustrated.

"What now, Nikki?" Ava asked. She walked over to Nikki and rubbed her shoulders. "Nothing could ever be bad enough as to be that frustrated with your brother."

"Nothing, Aunt Ava. Just a bit irritated." Nikki shot Bradin a dirty look and dragged the trash bag out the front door to the curb.

Ava turned to the boy and raised her eyebrows.

"What?" he asked, throwing his hands up in despair. "Not like I did anything to set her off this time." He began walking toward his bedroom.

"Oh? You didn't do anything?" He turned back around and shook his head. "Well then, perhaps it was what you didn't do, perhaps?" Ava smirked at Bradin, who shrugged and continued on his way back to his bedroom.

The phone rang and she went to answer it. She wasn't surprised at who was on the other line: Callie.

"Oh, hi, Callie. Need Bradin?" she greeted.

"Hey, Ms. Gregory. Yeah, I just wanted to see what his plans were for tonight," Callie replied cheerfully. "Have any idea if he has any?"

_Hm…he should probably do his summer-reading tonight instead of partying… Yet again, he hasn't seen Callie in a week. And it's not like he'll be out that late…"_

"No, Callie, I don't think he has anything going on tonight. Let me go get him, and you can ask him yourself." Ava set down the phone and went to retrieve Bradin, who picked up the phone almost immediately. She picked up the receiver; why not find out what they're planning? She had obviously missed part of the conversation, but that still didn't take the surprise out of it in the least.

"Well, Callie, I kind of have that reading project to do…" Bradin.

"Come on, I haven't seen you in a week. How can we say we're together if we don't even see each other?" Callie.

"Aunt Ava told me and Nikki that if we didn't have our projects done before August 30, we couldn't have that party I was telling you about." Bradin. Ava grinned; it was an open-ended threat made merely to test her power She was a bit shocked that her niece and nephew respected her enough to do the project. That they respected themselves enough to get it completed.

"Bradin! Are you serious? But that party's been your entire goal this summer!"

"I know, Callie, and that's why I need to get the project done, so I can have my party and fulfill my goal."

"Can you at least ask your aunt? She didn't mention your project. In fact, she didn't say anything about you not going out with me tonight."

"Fine, Callie, I'll ask. But I can't promise she'll agree, even if what you say is true." Ava heard Bradin set the phone down on his desk and Ava hung up before he could see she had been eavesdropping. She turned around and smiled.

"Aunt Ava?"

"Yes, Bradin? What do you need?"

"Callie," Bradin rolled his eyes, "would like to know if I could possibly go out with her tonight." His green eyes downcast, he muttered, "I told her I had to work on my paper…"

"Aw, Bradin, why did you tell her that? It's fine; take the night off from working and go have fun with Callie." Ava walked over to the couch and sat down. "Besides, you haven't seen her in a week. A lot could have changed in that time," she winked.

"Erm…okay. Thanks…I guess." Bradin walked from the room and back to his conversation with Callie.

Fifteen minutes later, he reemerged and said, "Callie changed her mind. She wants to stay in tonight for some reason. Can she come over?" Again, he muttered something, though this time Ava didn't catch what he mumbled.

"Sure! Of course she can come over. I was just going to start dinner out back; ask if she wants steak or chicken."

"Gee…thanks." He shuffled away and relayed the information to Callie. He ended with, "Yup. Yeah, bye," and hung up the phone.

"Bradin, can you come here for a minute?" He stuck his head out the window and looked at her expectantly.

"No, Bradin, come over here," Ava patted the couch, "sit next to me." He shrugged and sulked over.

"Now, Bradin, you are, I'm sure, well aware that I don't approve of your 'active' status with Callie," she began.

"Well…yeah, I know, but you don't have to worry about-" Ava held up a hand.

"No, let me finish," Ava interrupted. He looked down, but remained quiet. "I'm not under the impression you'll be doing anything tonight, but I would just like to remind you that it's not healthy, and not a good way to start off your senior year. It's too much of a commitment, and will interfere with your studies.

"Now, as you were saying…" Ava gestured for Bradin to continue.

"All I meant was that you don't have to worry about us doing that tonight. Or for a while." He groaned in slight frustration and slouched back into the couch, covering his eyes. "Ugh."

"Okay, Bradin. I could tell something was wrong when you asked me about going out tonight." He raised his left hand slightly and peered out at her with one eye. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Try…everything?"

"What do you mean?" Ava was getting confused. One minute, Bradin was asking to go out with Callie, and the next he acted as though he wanted to break up with her.

Bradin sat up and propped his elbows on his knees, massaging his temples with his finger times. "Okay, for some reason, I'm just not feeling the chemistry we had when we started this whole relationship."

"You guys have basically fizzled, you're saying," Ava summarized. Bradin nodded, and she continued, "Do you want to break up with her?"

"No." Ava raised her eyebrows. "I mean…I don't, but I do, at the same time."

"Oh." Bradin again let out a sigh of exasperation and Ava said quietly, "Bradin, you do, of course, realize that it's unfair to Callie to just keep the relationship going when you aren't truthfully returning the feelings she has for you?"

"Yeah. I know that."

_Then you might just as well break it off instead of breaking her heart in other ways,_ Ava thought.

"Bradin, you'd better think about it. It'll be hard, but from what you've told me, you and Callie's relationship is going down the tubes as we speak. It'll be much easier on both of you if you end this now, instead of just waiting around about it.

"Ugh, I just can't figure it out." Bradin stood and strode toward his bedroom. He stopped and turned around, looking at his aunt.

"By the way; Callie wants chicken."

* * *

_This. Stupid. Stupid. Trash. Bag!_ Nikki thought angrily, dragging the bag along behind her in her quest to the curb. _Of course Bradin couldn't bother to take it out; it's the most disgusting, smelly amount of trash I have ever seen in my entire life._

"Ugh!" she grunted angrily, stomping along on the paved driveway. "He will never make me do his chores again. Never!" she muttered.

"Need some help with that, Nik?" a voice said behind her. She instantly spun around to look at the boy.

"Cam!?" Nikki exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" She ran toward him and hugged him tightly. To her immense satisfaction, he hugged her back.

"Dad got transferred back to Los Angeles. We're staying here on weekends at our old house," he answered.

"Eek! That's awesome!" Nikki ended the embrace and pulled back from him, examining his features. Cam's blue eyes were still as intense, his smile still the same old smile that made her shiver every time she saw it; although his hair was, even now, brown, it had a sun-streaked quality worthy of California.

And he was tall. And handsome. And cute, and strong, and muscular, and…

_Back._

"Wow…you're the same old Cam, just…grown up," she uttered quietly.

Cam chuckled. "Yeah, basketball in the Midwest kind of…built me up a bit." He jokingly flexed his arm and smiled.

_Oy_…_Wow_…

Well, of course Nikki was enthralled in his newly muscular frame, but there was something else on her mind that she just had to do.

_I've wanted to kiss him for the longest time_…

Nikki stood on her tip-toes and put her hands on Cam's wide shoulders. "Welcome back, Cam," she whispered to him, before moving in and kissing him lightly.

* * *

"Woot, woot! Look who I've found kissing beneath the wide, starlit sky!" Callie joked, pushing Nikki toward Cam. "Cameron and Nikki, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-"

"Shut up, Callie!" Nikki shushed. "Aunt Ava's inside…"

"Oh, sorry, Nikki. My bad," Callie apologized before strolling into the house. Cam rolled his eyes.

"Nikki, it's okay, she's not going to tell her."

"It's not exactly Aunt Ava I'm worried about."

"Then who?" Cam asked.

"Bradin."

* * *

"Bradin!" Callie exclaimed, rushing up to hug him. "Gosh, seems as though I haven't seen you in forever!" Bradin gently pushed the girl away and turned to his aunt.

"When's dinner going to be ready?"

"Bradin," Ava laughed, "I haven't even started cooking the chicken yet!"

"Call me when it's ready, I guess. Or if you need help…" Bradin spoke next to Callie.

"Cal, we…we need to talk," he said.

"Why? What's wrong, Bradin?"

"I'll tell you…just, follow me."

"…Okay…" Bradin led Callie to a boulder right at the edge of the ocean, where he could watch the waves lap the beach when he was at a loss for words.

"Bradin, what's up? Even on the phone you sounded weird…is something wrong?" Callie insisted, taking his hand. He tenderly released her grasp.

"Callie…I…" he began. _Don't break her heart. Don't do what you did to the girl you had before you left Kansas to come here. Don't do it, Bradin_…_Don't do it,_ Bradin thought.

"Callie, I need to talk to you about 'us.'"

* * *

**_A/N: My, oh, my. Am I sorry, or what? I apologize for the terrible and extensive delay. I reread the original chapter and didn't really...like it. Appreciate it. Anyway- no amount of apologies could ever make up for what I put all of my faithful and loyal readers. And now, I'm hoping you will take the time to reread my story. Kat_**


End file.
